A GEOENGINEERING SOLUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING

Seldom are the remedies for Global Warming and Climate Change clobbered unequivocally and brought into light. Much have been spoken on alleviating pollution. The continuum looks endless!

Ruminating on the interior of cloud physics and atmospheric circulation, a Geo-Engineering solution has been recently discovered to increase the cooling effect and thereby increase rainfall.



(This was published in HINDU Final page dated 22-7-1990)

UNDERSTANDING VENUS

Beginning with the space exploration in 1960, the probes have revealed many remarkable and uncanny facts about the planetary diversity and their satellites. It was a astounding truth that despite the formation of all planets from the solar nebula, each planet exhibits its own geological, atmospheric and seasonal changes. The scientists discovered and reasoned numerous exacting processes on Earth through comparative studies with other extra terrestrial planets. This broke much new ground and made us realize that it takes more than instrument to make an orchestra.

For a scientist enduring to perpend over the truth, the mystery of retreating glaciers and green house effect would be more intriguing than the most thrilling pages of a novel. But, when the victim turned out to be our own planet, the scientific community was alarmed! Bewildering concepts of global warming and threatening statistics of sea level rise brought into limelight, the intrepid discussions on our ‘Next Hospitable Planet’.

Terraforming on Extra terrestrial planets gained momentum. We understood that we are just an example of a ‘much vaster and more varied tapestry’. The whole Universe opened before us t find our next destination. It was a joy to behold those scores of creative ideas gave mankind, the unseen yet existing zones of our Solar System.

Even years of work can go for naught if the concepts and results do not reach the common man! Hence I would like to share some seminal facts on Venus from one of the discussions I recently attended.

Venus, much known as the sister planet of Earth is often visualized as a morning star or an Evening star in the sky. Walking down the history of our nearest neighbor, We can see how this planet was traced and viewed in the past. Galileo saw the phases of Venus through his amateur telescope. Captain Hookes and his team finalized the drawings of the phases of Venus. But the time or the split second when the limb of Venus actually passed in front of the Sun was still unanswered. The planet was found to have had a moderate temperature in the past with liquid water on its surface and active ‘Intra plate tectonics’. The planet became a scientific labyrinth due to its abnormal East to west spin unike the West to East spin of Planets housing solid rocks(Only three planets in the solar system have been found to have this negative spin ; Venus, Uranus and Pluto(gaseous comp). The length of a sidereal day was -243.0187. One solar day on Venus is equal to 116 solar days on Earth! Due to its spin axis of 177.8 degree, the seasons on Northern and Southern Hemisphere of Venus was almost symmetrical. The near surface temperature was same everywhere on the planet.

Mariner 2 was the first mission which flew by venus in 1962. Magelan gave high resolution images of Venus in 1986. Venera 6 was a hard lander to study the winds in the deep space. Venera 8 was a soft lander . Such missions gave us mind boggling results about the surface pressure (92 bars), Air temperature(737K) , density (65Kg/m3 ) and wind speed (0.3-1m/s – Though Similar to Earth,the pressure makes the huge difference). Ratio of dueterium to hydrogen was found to be higher than Earth which made the remote sensing Hydrologists to ponder over the existence of water. The atmospheric composition was almost similar to Mars (96.5co2 and 3.5 N2).
The UV spectra showed absorptions bands at specific wavelengths. But tracing the compounds which absorbed UV rays remained a tangential question. Venus had convective clouds similar to Earth but the composition was of H2SO4. Hypotheses predict the existence of condensed Co2 clouds on Venus.


Due to very high scattering and presence of thick H2SO4 clouds, the visible and infrared imaging may be futile. The Microwave window is predominantly used to study the wind patterns and their speeds. The lack of magnetic field stands to hamstring the method of retrieval of directions in this less understood planet. Venus Express launched in 2005 gave an idea on the active volcanoes on Venus(A paper published in science states the eruption of volcano a year back ). Venus Express had devices same as the Mars Express except the OMEGA( Here it was SPICA’P’ instead of SPICA’M’ on MARS EXPRESS).


It also concluded the vortex circulations on Venus similar to Earth. The hurricane formation was also not different from the Earth. Magellan imaged the panoramic view of the planet replete with basaltic rocks ( This conjecture is taken from the existing volcano).
Still, the doubts linger; questions remain.

* How does this planet lose its heat?
* What is the triggering factor for Green house effect?
* Were there fluidized flows of sulphuric acid on this inhospitable planet?
* Is it currently geologically active?
* Does it really hold a intra plate tectonics?



FUTURE MISSIONS TO VENUS:

1. Venus Climate Orbiter – 21 May 2010(AKATSUKI).
2. EVE- An European balloon FALL 2010
3. Venera D 2016
4. Design Reference mission


AKATSUKI:

* Wavelength bands in UV-IR
* 30 Hr Equatorial orbit
* Radio occultation for atm profiles
* 5 cameras
* It will move with clouds and will be highly geosynchronous.


Another 5.5 prototype superpressure balloon is being designed by JPL/NASA. It is made of canvas coated with film. It will image from 55km from surface of Venus for about 1 MONTH.


With such scintillating breakthrough in space applications, I’m sure that the day is not too far when we will hear the voices of Extra terrestrials through Interstellar and Interplanetary communication. Let’s tune our minds to welcome them.

SUBCONSCIOUS MIND : A MAGIC WAND FOR YOUR SUCCESS

Have U ever believed in telepathy ? Yes, If U had done it so, this poem would be a real rejuvenation for you. Yes, my readers, sometimes miracles happen in life when we never think of them. But if something goes into your subconscious mind, its difficult to throw it out even if U wish. It resides in Ur mind; directs you and orients your thoughts until you reach your goal. As Swami Vivekanandha puts it
" Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is how great spiritual giants are produced"

This would be another motivating poem ;Infact a true story which I read.

Not more than three short years ago
I was abandoned and alone
Without a penny to my name
So very young and so afraid
No proper shoes upon my feet
Sometimes I couldn't even eat
I often cried myself to sleep
But still I had to keep on going
Never knowing if I could take it
If I would make it through the night
I held on to my faith
I struggled and I prayed
And now I've found my way

Chorus:
If you believe in yourself enough
And know what you want
You're gonna make it happen
Make it happen
And if you get down on your
knees at night
And pray to the Lord
He's gonna make it happen
Make it happen

I know life can be so tough
And you feel like giving up
But you must be strong
Baby just hold on
You'll never find the answers
if you throw your life away
I used to feel the way you do
Still I have to keep on going
Never knowing if I could take it
If I would make it through the night
I held on to my faith
I struggled and I prayed
And now I've finally found my way

Chorus

I once was lost
But now I'm found
I got my feet on solid ground
Thank you Lord
If you believe within your soul
Just hold on tight
And don't let go
You can make it
Make it happen

Chorus

ENVISAGING CHENNAI...

It is strange how images shape our thoughts and take us to the bottom of deeply incised canyons of thinking.

Yes, I'm going to give you a free Horoscope of Chennai City. Gee!! The transit period , when the urbanisation is going to be at its pinnacle;Infrastructure will transcend the limits of existing and visualised! With Skyscrapers getting ready to pierce the Sky,Sophisticated Bridges challenging the Developed countries, Chennai would soon soon be a mini-Texas. The govt of Tamilnadu is planning to open the Buckingham canal again which would enormously increase the benefits reaped through sea-trading.

Imperfect roads, stagnated water, mid-rise buildings.. Hold on ! Perhaps you would see all these archaic symbols of Chennai for very few days. Soon will the things change.. High-rise buildings , non-stop moving traffic,mammoth lounges- Perhaps this would be Chennai for us in 2020. Chennai is sure to achieve a pyrrhic victory.

The horoscope continues...Pals, seeing through the transit period, I wonder if there would dawn a day when we would all become Thomas Hood , pin pointing the current locations and searching for our houses in the future Chennai Map!

"I remember I remember
The school where I had studied,
The broken roads I trod"

There ends the free Horoscope. Friends these words are not just a prediction of future. It was all put forth by a technocrat from L&T . Yes, it was a lucid presentation on the Infrastructre development in Chennai. I was pleasntly surprised when he showed us these images of Chennai. I have a hunch that we would have many Burj-Khalifas and Petronas towers. The Chennai Secretariat which is presently under construction is the best quintessence for our Infrastructural growth.

My spirit flies in feathers, envisaging Chennai at its epitome of Pulchritude...

An Ode to my Solitude

That was just hours before my Satellite Geodesy assessment , when I was sitting alone in my classroom, staring the empty chairs and gloomy walls , thoughts flashed in my mind.. With one more year to go; To remain as a student of IRS. With my usual diary beside, I started expressing my thoughts. Though not a professional writer , I do write poems occasionally . They may not be fraught with excellent rhythmic phrases, yet go a long way in conveying my emotions.

And here goes my words for my beloved classroom , a block in IRS.

"Besoted in the solitude,
With the minds wandering far and wide,
Cloud of thoughts clobbered me.
The empty chairs humbled before
The silent walls waiting to bid me
Adieu in a couple of months.
In vain do I long for a time machine
The chance of my days to repeat again;
These happier hours will fly at present
yet remain to rehearse in future."


Ha! An assessment after this poem; Taking up a role of a technocrat after being a poet for a short time.

STREAMS OF BRYCE CANYON : A MISSING LINK IN GROUND TRUTH

Every tale has more than one side or perspective. And so it is with NASA, which studies Earth science from different angles – from satellites, from aircraft, and sometimes from the ground. But somehow, no matter how many ways there are to view a place, there’s nothing better than being there.

Case in point: Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. The interlocking peaks of the canyon rim can top 9,000 feet – high enough that year-round flurries created this snow-capped winter wonderland captured by photographer James Van Gundy. The spectacular oranges, browns, reds, and yellows of the limestone and the unique rain- and frost-carved stone make the park a destination for more than 1.5 million tourists each year.

Those peaks offer breathtaking views of three states and 200 miles of visibility.

In contrast, a Landsat satellite image of the park, taken in 2006, tells a top-side story of streams and rivers and valleys that stretch out like the fingers of a child’s hand print. A host of new colors emerge, not apparent from the ground view. The greens of coniferous forests. The blues of lakes and the Tropic Reservoir.

GEOINFORMATICS : IN AN ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE

Knowing the earth by its dimensions and imaging the natural processes on earth through the geospatial technologies are the prime goals of Geo-Informatics. The tell-tale stories of ancient cartographers and their handmade paper maps, large scale techniques of triangulation, stereoscopic principles and earth observation satellites speak in volumes about Geo-Informatics as a technology. Much water has run under the bridge since then. The potential of this technology has aggrandized from Earth science and cartographers to Geo-Informatics engineers. Construction of geospatial solutions as a conglomeration of scientific principles and Engineering innovations is the need of the hour.

Geomatics engineering is based on the framework of applied mathematic, physics, remotesensing ,computerscience, integration of satellite communication systems , design and management of complex hardware and data system. Probing the earth and its atmosphere from space provides an efficient, cost effective and rapid approach to discover natural resources, understand the climate system and monitor ocean circulation. Hence it requires complete understanding of the physical principles which go behind the remotely sensed images and complex mathematical principles involved in excellent geospatial softwares which process those imageries.

Geomatics engineering is a modern dicipline which integrates acquisition, modelling analysis and management of spatially referenced data. i.e data identified according to locations. Based on the scientific frame work of geodesy, it uses terrestial marine airborne, and sattelite based sensors to acquire spatial and other data. Also it includes the process of transforming spatially referenced data from different sources into common information system with well defined accuracy characteristics.

By and large the nuances of geomatics Engineering has increased manifold. The advent of hyperspectral remote sensing is one of the most significant breakthroughs in Geomatics. The capability of distinguishing different features and describing the same ground objects in various levels of details enhanced greatly.

The contribution of a Geomatics Engineer starts even before the satellite is launched into orbit. It is imperative to decide the sensor configuration and the typical wavelenghts of the sensor which can sense radiometrically and geometrically different features on Earth in a distinct manner. Hence the verdict of the Geomatics Engineer is extremely important while designing the spectral resolution of a sensor. Once the satellite is put into orbit it becomes highly essential to know the pertubing forces due to earth’s asphericity,solar Radiation, Tidal forces and third body perturbations which can alter the image characteristics of the Remote sensing satellites. Here the regular corrections to be made to the imagery for various perturbing effects must be studied and modelling of these variations must be handled by a Geomatics Engineer.

After the satellite starts transmitting data to ground station , scene –wise storage and management of data is carried becomes his responsibilty. The various levels of Geometric and Radiometric corections are then performed. The data is imported into a GIS or image processing software for data analysis and classification. Finally the Geomatics Engineer disseminates the data according to user requirements , there by bringing the process in to its consummation.

But, its ironical that the softwares which were actually introduced to perceive the technology in a better way hinders the real understanding of its principles.The extent of analysis must not be bound by the modules available. Thus what’s needed is to fathom the concepts of Geoinformatics running behind the screen rather than laying our hands just on the ‘mouse clicks’.

Thus, the burgeoning multifacted arena of Ge-Informatics Engineering enables the scientists to achieve credible Geospatial solutions not only for processes happening on Earth but also for umpteen unanswered mysteries in other planets. Proud to be a Geomatics Engineer!

EARTH IN SATURN'S SHADOW

This beautiful image of Saturn and its rings looks more like an artist’s creation than a real image, but in fact, the image is a composite (layered image) made from 165 images taken by the wide-angle camera on the Cassini spacecraft over nearly three hours on September 15, 2006. Scientists created the color in the image by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared, and clear-filter images and then adjusting the final image to resemble natural color. (A clear filter is one that allows in all the wavelengths of light the sensor is capable of detecting.) The bottom image is a closeup view of the upper left quadrant of the rings, through which Earth is visible in the far, far distance.

On this day, Saturn interceded between the Sun and Cassini, shielding Cassini from the Sun’s glare. As the spacecraft lingered in Saturn’s shadow, it viewed the planet’s rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world. Seen from more than a billion kilometers (almost a billion miles) away, through the ice and dust particles of Saturn’s rings, Earth appears as a tiny, bright dot to the left and slightly behind Saturn.

Although it might appear that Earth is located within Saturn’s outermost rings, that positioning is just an illusion created by the enormous distance between Cassini and Earth. When Cassini took this image, the spacecraft was looking back at Saturn from a distance of about 2.2.million kilometers (about 1.3 million miles). The Sun was millions of additional miles beyond, hidden behind Saturn. On September 15, Earth’s orbit had brought our home planet to a location slightly behind and to the left of the Sun from Cassini’s perspective.

Here is the website to get more enthralled!
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=2230&js=1

The STEREO Ahead spacecraft kept a close eye on two active regions on Feb. 12, 2010. The one on the left popped off a small flare. The still shows the bright flash of the flare in UV light at 195 Angstroms. The active region near the center shows a lot of magnetic struggles within it, and it bursts out a small coronal mass ejection (CME) after the arch of particles is seen rising up. Flares are intense explosions on the Sun that blast out radiation into space. CMEs are larger and longer lasting solar storms that carry a larger cloud of particles and magnetic field into space. Both can create what we call "space weather" effects such as power disruptions, satellite problems, and aurora if aimed at Earth.

IMAGE FUSION

PROBLEM :

HOW DO WE GO ABOUT FUSING A MICROWAVE IMAGE AND OPTICAL IMAGE OF A SAME AREA ?

The conventional style of Georeferencing always exists. But what if we are not microwave specialists and could not identify features just by seeing?
If we go for a path and row we can find only a scene and not a specific point which we would require to georeference an image and thus fuse them. Further its a critical situation if we use a fusing of an Interfereogram.

A new dimension to GPS through SONAR

GPS does not work underwater-the radio signals on which it depends cannot pass through water. So submariners have yet to benefit from the revolution in navigation that it allows.

Now engineers working for the US Office of Naval Research think they have found a simple way to let submarines and divers get an accurate GPS fix.

A base station is tethered to the sea bed at known depth and known GPS location. A submersible anywhere in the area sends out a sonar request pulse to which the base station replies with a signal which gives its GPS position and depth as well as the bearing angle from which the submersible?s request arrived.

The submersible then uses its own depth, which is easily measured, plus the round trip pulse time and the bearing angle sent by the base, to calculate its own position. Simple.

Reference :
http://www.divespots.com/pdf/DiveSpots_article_uwgps.pdf

NATURE : RESILIENT IN ITS PULCHRITUDE

The sky Stood staring at me ;

Scattering its Red and Yellow.

Much have i Longed ,

For this unabated exhilaration

There fell my heart for the God made Earth!

When the dew dropped and

The Sun hid itself behind the horizon,

Soon did I realize

The departing trees and smoke emitting chimneys

which refelected the try-catch game

With those coterie of men

who architect the signboard

"A Tree- The Last natural specimen on Earth;

Tresspassers will be prosecuted."

MESOSCALE THERMAL FRONTS AND EVAPORATION RATES

I would like to brief one of my ideas which would certainly have a great say in limiting climate change if not curb it completely. Any coup for limiting this issue must involve the complete understanding of atmospheric parameters. So my idea also revolves around comprehending certain land and oceanic parameters which can alleviate climate change. Climate change in a broad sense means anomalous behavior of atmospheric parameters due to some natural or anthropogenic activity.

Sea level rise as we all know is a major effect of climate change. Through out my write up I’m going to focus on this oceanic parameter which is the need of the hour. Mesoscale thermal fronts and sinks are areas of thermal discontinuities where absorption of CO2 by ocean from atmosphere is relatively high. I am currently working in a paper where I am trying to map these regions from satellite images like AVHRR and NOAA.

But why these sinks are important? Yes, these regions absorb co2 and increase their boundaries and thereby aggrandizing the total ocean temperature. So as ocean heat increases the evaporation in that region alone starts increasing and the winds driven from that region bring heavy rainfall. So, at one part where there are sinks the rainfall decreases and another part the evaporation is high resulting in heavy showers. This causes heavy cyclones in some regions and draught in other regions. And when the thermal fronts spread, the regions under high rate of evaporation increase drastically, giving rise to more and more cyclones. So we have to control the high rate of evaporation in places of thermal fronts. Hence identification of these places is the prime goal.

1. Map the regions using MODIS thermal bands.
2. Using image processing techniques we can find out the areas of thermal fronts and sinks.
3. On knowing the lat long of those areas we can control the rate of evaporation at those places alone.
4. Cetyl alcohol is found to be the chemical which is strong, flexible to wind and ocean currents. This can be sent through undersea pipelines as we send the liquid co2 into oceans. But the foremost thing here is to monitor the lat long in which it has to be spread. Here comes the geospatial technology.
5. Next we have to validate the results because these chemicals can also have alternative impacts.
6. So we need a marine geospatial system which can monitor the latitude. Longitude, SST and wind speed in that area in daily timescale to see if there is any change in SST after the Cetyl alcohol is sent.
7. This system must comprise a GPS, a thermal sensor for estimation of SST, an antenna for immediate transfer of information to the land system.
8. The land system must have a MARINE GIS application to create buffer around thermal fronts, increase or decrease the buffer once the SST information is transferred, make simulations for increase in Cetyl alcohol content by generating DEM layers.
9. Here Generation of DEM is necessary in order to know the level at which Cetyl alcohol must be supplied. Also DEM must be created fro sea continental shelf region.
10. On the whole it should function as a real time monitoring system.

So in compendium I can say that the whole operation involves Geospatial technology in oceans for limiting climate change.

FROM ELUSIVE LICENSED SOFTWARES TO ENABLING OPEN SOURCE..

Open source soft ware is a relatively novel concept that has started dominating not only the IT SECTOR but also spatial information system like GIS. In a broad sense open source technology has almost replaced the licensed soft wares with its redistributive and collaborative nature. Nothing in open source sector defines more than how passionately we go about innovating things. But still a fallacious thought which exists about open source is that it requires enormous programming skills than the normal licensed software. But this is not true. There are open source soft wares which are compatible with c and c++. A basic programming knowledge is the need of the hour. When mankind has learnt to fly, build tunnels through mountains and under the sea and transport itself into space at will, open source is not far behind.

Yes, it’s true! A degree of skepticism in my mind about open source was obliterated by this extensive lecture on open source who was instrumental in devising a ‘Business GIS Application’.

It was a normal Friday morning not much to ponder about as our semester started just 4 days before. We were in our GIS labs when we were instructed by our professor to head towards the auditorium. It was exhilaration all around! Of course the very thought of relieved from the normal classes all through the day added to our zeal.

A PhD student from University of Ireland (correct me if I’m wrong), an extensive user of Open source GIS packages Mrs. Easwari Shivanyanam appeared on the dais to share her experiences on the exemplary nature of open source technology in developing a Business GIS Application for a company in Srilanka.

Albeit it may not be possible for me to focus more on the technical side of this workshop , I would like to state the problems which she explained us and the solutions for the same.

PROJECT: DEVELOPMENT OF A BUSINESS GIS APPLICATION WHICH IS COST EFFECTIVE AND ALSO EFFICIENT.

INDUSTRY: RETAIL INDUSTRY

WHY GIS, WHEN WE HAVE A NORMAL BUSINESS DATABASE?

· To ameliorate the problems faced by the sales representatives in reaching the destination.
· A map can speak in volumes than the normal textual content.
· To convey the info to the head office once a product is sold.
· It can be updated in the database immediately.

USES
· To fathom the hotspot analysis in a buffer
· Cluster analysis, Trend analysis of a product over a few years in an area, route updating and land use changes.
· This can facilitate the companies to compare their improvement over the years.
· GPRS enabled mobile printer can be utilized for immediate generation of bills and a facsimile can be transferred to the head office through a palmtop.
· Shortest path algorithms : to guide the sales rep
· Track of the sales rep through out the day.
· A clear map can alleviate ambiguous situations and repeated visits to a particular street.
· It can also be a great use in finding how much distance a sales rep has covered in a day, in a month and so on and what’s his output.

PROBLEM IN THE CASE STUDY

It should be customer specific. In this case the company was highly benefited by the Business application involving GIS as the sales representatives were able to send instant SMS to head office in case of lack of products. Every new shop where the product is sold is updated in the map. The regional manager should be able to keep track of everything sold in his region.

All the maps given were in Map info format (as mentioned in the lecture). No money would be spent on the software development except a single PC. So Open source soft wares were a blessing in disguise! Open street maps were utilized extensively.

SOFT WARES USED: QGIS, POSTGIS WITH POST GRESQL,
R- STATISTICAL PACKAGE.

APPLICATION DESIGN

The basic requirement of the customer was ‘create and edit capability’ of the application. They had also opted for Google map interface. So that was taken as the base map. Further thematic maps were generated. Last but not least a genteel appearance.

Two basic methods used were
1. What if analysis.
2. Optimal route calculation.

The former had a significant use when a polygon had to be removed and the same situation has to be faced. From my understanding I can put it like this…

What if a particular road is blocked and the product has to reach the destination somehow. So an aliter has to be visualized for the destination which is highly possible with GIS in hand.

The afternoon session focused more on the various open source soft wares, brief hints on many. It was an application which juxtaposed many open source soft wares.

Of course it would have really been knotty task in bringing everything to one platform. I have given below a few sites which were mentioned in the lecture session.

· http://www.mapserver.org/
· http://www.postgresql.org/
· OGC
· GDAL
· http://www.spatialreference.org/
· Refraction.net
· TIDAC.CH-(IN CHENNAI) - A company which designed the Tamil Nadu govt. website.
· Unsusthnic.in

Thanks to Mrs. Easwari who motivated us so much andshared so many experiences in this domain. I might have missed out some technical specifications in the lecture. I welcome the points and looking forward eagerly to upload them in this post.